


And She Fell

by Within_a_Tempest



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: First Fic Babey!!, Gen, Pre-Season 5, The End, Unconventional Format, quarantine mention, the vast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24121570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Within_a_Tempest/pseuds/Within_a_Tempest
Summary: A Vast avatar tries to get back into the good graces of Simon Fairchild.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	And She Fell

The click of heels echoed off the empty walls of the Observatory. Observatory. Please. It was a tiny second rate museum that catered to local school children and the occasional tourist. It hadn’t served any research purpose in well over a decade as technology outpaced what funding the site could acquire. And so, scientific progress progressed elsewhere. Which was fine by Audra. She wasn’t a scientist.

The smile plastered to her face wasn’t entirely without joy. There was a thrill to be found but it just wasn’t the same as her excursions elsewhere. Still, she had bills to pay since Simon stopped footing them. It was a simple little tiff, really, but the man enjoyed pulling the rug out from people too much to let it go.

Thirty eager faces looked at her as she entered wearing a lab coat. Astrophysicists didn’t wear lab coats but to children, the white frock meant scientist. Which she wasn’t, again, but it was a part she and her fellow colleagues were paid to play.

Hm, eager wasn’t the right word either. A few were excited for the presentation. Some were bored. Others tried to sneak peeks at phones they were too young for. One was picking their nose.

That one.

Her smile finally reached her eyes as she set to work.

It was simple really, instilling that kernel of apprehension at the mere thought of the depths of space. Her bosses applauded her enthusiasm for teaching the aforementioned school children about the “wonders of the cosmos”. Poor specks never stood a chance.

When she was done with her presentation, the children filed out of the small theater save one. The nose picker. They sat there, frozen, trying to breathe.

She approached, a mask of concern covering her elation.

“You’ll miss your bus little one” She kneeled on the creaky seat in front of the child, staring at them with her eyes wide.

A tear escaped, sliding down their cheek.

“I know, missing a bus seems small potatoes when you think about how big the universe is, huh” She grinned. Teeth this time. “Here you are in your little chair in this little theater in this little town on this little planet in essentially the suburbs of a galaxy that’s one among trillions, stretching out around you for infinity But time isn’t infinite, little one No, time stretches out so long you’re not even a blip in existence but that great big thing still ends Just like your time here so I’m afraid you’re going to have to scoot” Smile gone. Eyes hard.

She blinked.

The child ran.

Audra remained leaning forward and massaged her temples. She needed to call Simon. Scaring the specks was fun but it wasn’t her favorite way to pay homage. And was that a touch of Terminus in her little speech to the child? She scanned the theater, frowning. She didn’t care for endings, for the finite. And so she didn’t care for those who exemplified Limitation.

Limitation.

The thrill in her chest wasn’t that of her patron. It was a kind of fear she only felt when One of them was near. And so they were, a shadow emerging from the small sound booth.

“We’re closed for school tours”

“What is the point of playing dumb, Audra?”

“But you know how I love to play”

The shadow didn’t respond.

“Any of those miscreants yours”

“Perhaps.”

“Why stick around then”

“I wanted to chat.”

She let out a laugh, loud, filling the space.

“I don’t” And so Audra fell backward

And fell

And fell

And fell

* * *

Darkness below

Light above

The blessed green blue all around her

Her hair floating freely

Who knew where her limbs stopped and the water began

Just empty miles below, above, surrounding

It was as if secular organ music filled her ribcage

Achingly beautiful and grand

She was without weight

Without form

She was…

Vast

* * *

“Ridiculous”

“We’ve worked with Others before”

“That was space”

“What’s wrong with water”

“Doesn’t have the same flair”

“You’re playing favorites again”

“Don’t speak to your elders in that tone”

“And don’t speak to your betters in that tone”

Laughter.

“If you were my better, you wouldn’t be asking me for money”

“And if you were my better, you wouldn’t be realizing that I have more ingenuity in my pinky right now than you’ve had in a century”

Silence.

“It’s very Jules Verne”

“You got your Earth to the Moon, all I’m asking for is my 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”

“But this… alliance”

“Pitting us against Too Close I Cannot Breathe is a mistake, Simon It’s better if we work together For now”

“And if it goes sideways—”

“Then you’ve got full license to piss on my watery grave for wasting your money”

“What about wasting my time”

It was Audra’s turn to laugh.

“That’s the one thing you’ve got plenty of, old man”

“I suppose I need never wonder what it’s like to have a daughter”

“Say that again and I’ll consider patricide”

“The Hunt isn’t your style”

“The thrill wouldn’t be in finding you It’d be in ending you”

Laughter.

“Thank you for reminding me why I’m so fond of you Consider it done, little one”

“Bastard”

“Kisses”

Call ended.

* * *

The organ played

Deep reverberations in her chest

Chords escalating, opening up her ribcage as if to let all the water crash in

Her arms outstretched

She was…

A knock.

She was…

Another knock.

She was answering the knock. Through the door, not opening it. 

“We’re missing you for the safety check.”

“I think I’m ill.”

“What?”

Rehearsed words yet she was still forced to sell them.

“Just took my temperature and I’m ill. We’ll need to quarantine.”

“But the--”

“If you care so much about safety protocol then we’ve got to quarantine.”

Silence, then…

“Fuck, alright then. I’ll tell the others.”

The condition of having Lukas bankroll some of the funding. Isolation. She didn’t much care, she could still feel the panic rise in the grad student’s throat. The poor girl hadn’t wanted to come but a few emails about the excellent opportunity this was had her overbearing parents packing her bags to ensure a brighter future. She’d wanted to crunch data, not gather it yet here she still was.

Audra sat on her bed. She thought this would work, it will work, of course it will.

“So if Audra gives us the go-ahead, then we should still be able to conduct the mission with Elsa taking the Sandwich down.”

An unbearable nickname for a submersible.

“I don’t know why I’m the one who—”

“I approve, she was the best in training on the Arm”

Elsa’s face dropped.

“But, but what if I get sick down there and—”

“Will you tell the people who bankrolled this or will I”

Stab them where it hurts and scientists are always hurting for funding.

“Okay. Okay.”

“You already know how to operate everything but we’ll be on comms to guide you through the whole thing.” Clark’s voice was steady in a way that leached calm. Audra hoped she’d get to hear it shake.

She held back a smile, knowing what came next.

* * *

There were easier ways to do this but easier wasn’t as fun.

Elsa went out.

Sank deeper.

Deeper.

Audra leaned back in her seat, delighted. Out there the little one drifted and the knowledge almost made Audra jealous. Almost.

Comms cut off between them and the… Sandwich.

Shouts, yells, desperate cries to get Elsa’s voice back.

She’s gone, Audra almost whispered. Almost.

The void of water swallowing her whole, lost in that great expanse of the deepest blue. They were almost deep enough for Things Not Seen to take its piece of the little one but not deep enough.

She was supposed to come back, of course. This was just an appetizer and Audra’s patron was keeping the feast for later. The little one almost came back. Almost.

* * *

Hammering at Audra’s door. So the crash was loud enough to draw attention.

“I’m fine.” She hissed. “Just… upset”

“Can I—”

“No Leave me alone I need to… quarantine measures are still in place”

“Damn the quarantine—”

“I won’t have one of you getting sick, not when we…” already lost one was the implied end of that sentence. Audra let it hang in the air. To sell it. Again.

No response save for the footsteps leaving her. Clark’s voice had shaken and she couldn’t even enjoy it.

They were all fucked.

She turned to the reason for the crash, fury radiating off of her like she was one of the Pursuit. Her hands clenched into fists but she held back, knowing it didn’t matter.

“You took her”

“You let her go.”

“She wasn’t for you”

“Everyone is for Terminus.”

Audra stretched her arms, wanting to feel that feeling, to tip into the expanse.

She couldn’t.

“Not this time, Audra.”

“We are in the deep”

“The ocean doesn’t go on forever.”

“But I do”

“I’m sorry the Falling Titan sold you a lie.”

“Inevitability is the lie Nothing has to end”

“Even your denial will have an end.”

“You will end”

“I will.”

Audra blinked at the emotionless simplicity. She wanted to feed the rage she felt but that was ebbing. The shadow was so matter of fact, the part of her mind that taught the universe to school children whispered agreement.

“I miss you, Audra.”

“Don’t say my name Please”

“I do.”

“I am infinite, I am more than you ever let me be so why won’t you just let me be”

“Oh.”

* * *

“You’re End Touched, little one”

“It wasn’t my fault Simon”

“Never is but still can’t have you around, you know how it’d look”

“I can End them, I know I can”

Laughter.

“No, no you can’t”

“Please, just let me try”

“It’s not for me to decide, Audra”

A moment.

“Why does everyone say my name like that”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m already gone.”

Another moment.

“Just… take one last fall, for the road”

He wouldn’t look at her.

So she fell

And fell

And fell

And fell

And landed.

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to estherroberts for encouraging me to post this short piece!!


End file.
